This is a discussion of the elements
in the HTML language, and how they
interact to represent documents.
The HTML Document Element
An HTML document is organized as
a HEAD and a BODY, much like memo
or a mail message:
HTML
|
|_head
|_body
The HEAD element is an small unordered
collection of information about the
document, whereas the BODY is an
ordered sequence of information elements
of arbitrary length. This organization
allows an implementation to determine
certain properties of a document
-- the title, for example -- without
parsing the entire document.
- TITLE
- The title of the document
- ISINDEX
- Sent by a server in a searchable
document
- NEXTID
- A parameter used by editors
to generate unique identifiers
- LINK
- Relationship between this document
and another. See also the Anchor
element , Relationships . A document
may have many LINK elements.
- BASE
- A record of the URL of the document
when saved
Proposed head elements
- EXPIRES
- The date after which the document
is invalid. Semantics as in the HTTP
specification.
Obsolete head elements
- META
- A wrapper for an HTTP element
-
The order of the contents of the
BODY element should be preserved
when it is rendered on the output
device.
Hypertext Anchors
- Anchors
- Sections of text which form
the beginning and/or end of hypertext
links are called "anchors" and defined
by the A tag.
Block Elements
These elements typically stack vertically
in the rendered flow of text. Whitespace
between them is ignored.
- Headings
- Several levels of heading
are supported.
- Paragraph
- The P element represents
a paragraph.
- Horizontal Rule
- A horizontal dividing
line
- Address style
- Used to represent authorship
or status of a document
- Blockquote style
- A block of text
quoted from another source.
- Lists
- Bulleted lists, glossaries,
etc.
- Preformatted text
- Sections in fixed-width
font for preformatted text.
Inline Elements
These elements fall left to right
in the rendered flow of text. Whitespace
between them separates words, except
in the PRE element, where it has
its literal ASCII meaning.
- Special Phrases
- Emphasis, typographic
distinctions, etc.
- Line Breaks
- Indicates a line break
in a flow of text.
- IMG
- The IMG tag allows inline graphics.
Body elements (level 2)
Elements for forms
The FORM element and various other
elements allowed only within it describe
forms which allow user input.
- FORM elements
- FORM, INPUT, SELECT,
OPTION, TEXTAREA, etc
The other elements are obsolete but
should be recognised by parsers for
back-compatibility.